III: Here Kitty Kitty

It was sometime after three a.m., Atlantis time, when a dream of Wraith and a mercy killing made me snap wide awake, pulse racing, and that single gunshot echoing through my head. I sat up, swiveled around and thought the lights on before my feet hit the floor. I also had my nine-mil in my hand.

The room was empty.

"Shit," I said and scrubbed hard at my face as the old nightmare crawled back into the dark little hole where it belonged. I put the safety back on and just set the gun on the bed next to me as I waited for my pulse to wind down. It took awhile, and when I was finally relaxed again I knew I was pretty much done with sleeping for the night. I got up, got dressed, and decided to go wandering while everyone else was asleep.

I took the stairs instead of the lift, and when I came to the second floor balcony I stopped and leaned on the railing. I expected it to be dark in the atrium, but the light was set at a level equivalent to a full moon on a cloudless night. You could damn near see colors in the blue-white light and from my vantage point I could see a dozen different kinds of night blooming flowers around me. However, the smell was damn near overpowering on this level so I decided to go down into the atrium proper before I started sneezing my head off.

The reed mats and back rests had been rolled up and set aside. Other than that there was no evidence of the dozens of people who had filled the area earlier in the evening. I was hoping someone had left a half full gourd of the good stuff behind but, no, after a quick search I was out of luck.

I was halfway around the fountain before I realized I wasn't alone. Shadow was sitting in the Temple doorway, his back against the jamb, his knees drawn up and his forearms resting on them. He had his head turned to the right and was staring out into the night.

I stood there for a moment, not sure if I should disturb him or not, then thought what the hell. When I walked up he turned his head briefly towards me and just acknowledged me with a slight lift of his chin and eyebrows. Then he was looking back out into the darkness.

I slid down the wide doorjamb opposite him and wound up sitting in the exact same position without even thinking about it. Okay, that was weird. I turned my head to the left and could see and hear a light rain hitting the top of the stairs. Beyond that, nothing but pitch blackness. That utterly empty void beyond the stairs made me miss the lights of Atlantis, the lights of home.

I turned my head back and just studied Shadow in silence for a several minutes. Other than the completely smooth skin and the slightly broader shoulders, he really was a dead ringer for me at twenty-five. Hard to believe he was technically only six months old. But his was a face I was intimately familiar with, and even in this dim light I could tell by the set of his mouth and the faint crease between his eyebrows that he was worrying over something in his mind. Anybody else would have thought he was relaxed right now, but I knew better.

Shadow turned his head and studied me in return, no doubt seeing the same thing reflected in my face. His pupils were so dilated right now his eyes looked black, and when he titled his head a fraction they reflected a glowing pale blue for a moment.

Hey, I was proud of myself – I kept my breathing steady and my expression calm even though my heart was pounding so hard in my chest I was sure he could hear it.

He must have picked up on something because he drew his head back a little, then lowered his gaze to his hands and drew his lips into a tight line. "This is … strange," he said after a moment.

"Yeah," I replied. We sat in silence for easily another minute. "Has this ever happened before?"

"A Guardian meeting its … source?" Shadow frowned and shook his head slowly. "No. I believe this is a first."

"Huh."

"Now I understand why this situation was avoided in the past," Shadow said and leaned his head back against the wall. The right side of his mouth lifted a fraction and he made that weird little chuffing noise. It was hard to explain exactly what that was like. It wasn't really a snort – it was like a short, forced exhale that puffed his lips slightly and was accompanied by a noise in the back of the throat that sounded like, I don't know, the start of a startling deep purr. It was definitely the sound a really big cat would make, and every time I heard it the hairs on the back of my neck would stir. "It is very disconcerting," he added softly.

"No shit," I said under my breath. We sat there a few more minutes, the only sound the rain on the stairs just beyond us. My tailbone started to go numb sitting like that so I stretched my legs out and tucked my right ankle under my left thigh. Then I readjusted my shoulders and just laced my hands over my stomach.

Shadow's eyebrows lowered a little and he asked out of the blue, "What role do you fill for your people?"

I thought about that for a second. "I'm a soldier," I said. Then the corner of my mouth twitched up as I thought about it some more. "I watch over my geeks, keep them safe." And what a frustrating, full time job that is some days, I thought.

Shadow's eyebrows rose in surprise. "We … serve a similar purpose, then."

"Yeah, I guess we do." I snorted. "Must be in the name." At his cocked head I said, "Sheppard. A shepherd is a person on my world who watches over flocks of animals and protects them."

Shadow thought about that for moment, then nodded faintly. "It's in the blood," he said more to himself than to me.

At the mention of blood I tensed up. He noticed instantly and tensed up, too, and I clearly saw his nostrils flare a few times as he tested the air. That, for some reason, really bugged me. It was so … not human. I opened my mouth, and it took a couple of attempts to finally ask, "Is that what she used? In the White Room?"

Shadow jerked faintly and sat up a little straighter. He just stared at me and I couldn't tell for sure if he was surprised I knew about the place, or pissed because I had been there. Maybe it was a combination of both. But he sat there, tensed for motion but utterly still, and I felt more threatened right at that moment than I ever did staring down the end of a gun. Finally he took in a deep breath. When he released it the tension left and the crease was back between his eyebrows. "Yes."

Then boom, my own anger rose up bright and hard and I found myself snarling. Shadow flinched and clamped his lips down, and I knew without a doubt he was feeling guilty. I took in a deep shaky breath and let it out slowly, then leaned forward and rested my elbows on my thighs. I glared up at him. "She. Had. No. Right." I carefully enunciated every word as the memory of that night brought both rage and shame.

Shadow slowly shifted into a cross-legged position and leaned forward so he could meet my eyes. "No, she didn't," he replied in a calm, even tone but I could see his nostrils flaring with every quick breath. "But please try to understand that what she did was not done out of perversity or malice. She only wanted to help her people. Her intentions were not to hurt."

"Well, our people have a saying: 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'."

He took a deep breath and clamped his lips together. Then he lowered his head until all I could see was a shock of unruly black hair and hunched shoulders, and when he spoke I almost couldn't hear him over the rain. "She did regret what she did."

"And how the hell would you know that?" I spat back.

He raised his head. "It was the last thing she ever wrote."

I looked at him and his expression was so pained I felt my anger back off to a slow simmer. I rubbed my mouth, then set my arm back on

my leg and just looked at him. He just met my gaze steadily, and for a moment I could see more regret and sadness in his eyes there than there had a right to be for someone so … young. I had to look away. I took in another deep breath, held it, and let it out. When I spoke my voice was barely above a whisper. "Well, after what I learned about the Guardians earlier today, I think I can finally begin to forgive her." Damn, that was fucking hard to say out loud. I leaned back against the doorjamb and crossed my arms.

Shadow closed his eyes and lowered his head for a moment. We sat in silence again for several minutes before he sat up straighter and leaned back as well. "I should probably thank you."

I cocked my head faintly. "For what, exactly?" I asked cautiously.

"Because of your link to the Ancients, I am the first of my kind to have complete access of this facility." When he said the name of his creators, he actually gave a faint snarl that showed a bit of white fang. He waved a hand towards the darkness. "These people now have hope for a future."

I couldn't stop a bitter smile from touching my lips. "Does that future include artificial insemination?"

Shadow blinked and actually got a little embarrassed. "That was Nixta's plan. She hoped introducing some new bloodlines would help."

And she told me she didn't think it would. "Have you used any of, uh, us yet?" I asked as if I didn't already know.

Now he was really embarrassed and would not meet my eyes. "Yes, I did. I picked a few of the younger women and asked if they would … be willing." He brought his legs up and wrapped his arms tight around them. "A few volunteered, but I only used the sample from the loud, intelligent one."

"How many?" I asked and tried to sound stern because for a second there I could very easily picture a test tube labeled with that exact description.

Shadow's head came up and he tried to look chastised, but a hint of a proud smile flashed briefly. "There are two pregnant right now. The others were unsuccessful." He gave a faint shrug. "Fertility is a problem with these people – I'm hoping to find other ways to help with that, now that I have access to this …." He nodded toward the interior of the outpost. Then his eyebrows furrowed and rose a bit in the middle, and I recognized that guilty look. "I can destroy your sample, if you want."

I frowned as I thought it over. When the silence stretched into an uncomfortable minute, I finally said, "I'll get back to you on that. Unless you can …." I waggled a finger at him as I thought of the twins. Then I instantly regretted it when his face went completely still again, but there was that little furrow between his eyebrows.

"The Guardians are sterile," he said quietly. "Too much genetic tampering."

I grimaced. "Sorry." Then I just couldn't help myself. "But everything is, um, functional, isn't it?" The slow grin he gave in reply was one I'd been slapped for a few times in the past. It also got me a few really fond memories, too. For a second I felt like a proud poppa and started to grin myself. But I clamped down on it and just said, "Good. That's, that's good."

"Yes, it is," he replied with a knowing smirk. He relaxed his death grip on his legs and set his forearms back on his knees. Another quiet minute or two passed and it wasn't at all uncomfortable. "Do you have any children?" he asked hesitantly.

I shook my head and almost said not that I know of, but I've been careful over the years. Then I shrugged. "But you could say I do have quite the extended surrogate family." And if anyone on Atlantis heard me say that, they – and in that I'd mainly mean a certain egotistical astrophysicist - would probably tell me to lay off the high-g maneuvers because they were obviously causing severe brain damage. But inwardly, he and the others would probably agree. Some of us have been through too much the last few years to remain just colleagues and team mates – we were definitely family now. And without a doubt Atlantis our home.

Shadow nodded. "As do I." He sighed and that damn crease got more pronounced as he turned his head back toward the village in the darkness.

I had a good feeling I knew what had brought him out here in the middle of the night. We both have our own personal nightmares and it seems loss and an inability to stop it was at the heart of them. "Carson told me about the baby," I said quietly. "I'm really sorry."

Shadow swallowed and just ducked his head briefly. "Your doctor is a very compassionate man. He took the loss as hard as we did."

"Yeah, that's Carson – a giant heart in a lab coat." Then I grimaced. "Unless you're a patient and not following his instructions. That man has more evil ways of getting your meds in you …." I shuddered. "And what gets me is he can do it all with such a pleasant smile on his face."

Shadow chuffed and grinned briefly. "I enjoy the way he speaks."

"Oh, and that's another thing – if the accent gets thicker, look out, because the next thing you know he'll be ordering his nurses to practice

their pre-op shaving techniques on you." I lifted a finger. "With a straight razor."

Shadow cocked his head and studied me for a moment. "You must not be a very co-operative patient."

"No, I'm a royal pain in the ass – I hate being in a bed that long with nothing constructive to do," I said with a wicked grin. Then I sighed. "I don't know what we'd do without him." And that thought killed my smile completely.

"His presence was appreciated today," Shadow said and his attention returned to the night. "I've lost too many lately, and the little ones are always the hardest."

I suddenly got a chill even though the temperature was still somewhere in the seventies. "You've lost people?"

"Yes." He kept his face turned away and spoke quietly. "I lost an entire hunting party a month ago – five hunters and their Ixlatecutl. I spent three days searching and did catch a scent early on, but the rains obliterated the trail. All I found was Mital's broken bow and feathers. And blood." His voice lowered and took on a rumbling tone that I wish I could get. It was impressive. "Then last week Tleni disappeared while the women were harvesting pitu roots. Again, no tracks or scent because of the rain."

"Think it could be Wraith?" I said through my teeth.

"No – the 'Gate has been silent and there have been none of their ships on the Temple's scanners." He turned to face me and looked haunted. "An urtal could have taken Tleni, but not the hunters. Not all of them, anyway."

"What's an urtal?"

"That is what killed my predecessor."

I sucked in a breath as I remembered the big cat exploding out of the brush. It was easily the size of a Siberian tiger and had golden fur flecked with russet spots. Other details were kind of fuzzy since we all unloaded a shitload of bullets into the thing shortly thereafter. I do remember a short stubby tail and fangs as long as my hand, though.

"I've taken to accompanying the hunters on any forays into the jungle, and we try to stay close to the city. Less ground cover – more visibility. I'm considering firing some of the undergrowth when the drier season hits." Shadow leaned forward and clasped his left wrist with his right hand and kind of hunched over his knees. "I've also started preparing the level three hydroponics lab to grow some of our food here."

I almost asked him if he was over-reacting but the worry on his face stopped me. Then I decided if I were in his, um, loincloth, I'd probably be doing the same things. "How is progress on the wall coming?" It was three-quarters done when we were here last, and I didn't really pay much attention to it today.

"Just one small section left," he said. "With the rains and the previous events, we've had more hands helping."

I rubbed my chin. "You mentioned scanners – are they …."

"Active as we speak," Shadow said. Then he offered a hint of a shrug. "But I still keep watch. I don't sleep much at night."

Neither do I, I thought. "Sounds like you have all your bases covered." Then something else ticked through my head. "The null field. Does this facility also have a shield?"

"Shield and cloak," Shadow replied. "It's what keeps it from being discovered or destroyed by the Wraith. The wall is just behind the limit of the combined field."

"Whoa – combined?" I said. No wonder why Radek has been busy. Shadow nodded. "Sweet," I said to myself.

Shadow answered my crooked grin with a smug one of his own. "Does your village require such protective measures?"

I had to snort at that one and found myself nodding as spastically as Rodney. I forced myself to stop and said, "Oh, yeah, but the threats? Totally different. We at least have the advantage of being completely surrounded by ocean. And I have yet to see a pirate."

"Ocean?" Shadow said and perked up. "Really?"

Right then the expression on his face proved to me just how much of a kid he still was. But then, now that I think about it, I probably had a similar expression on my face when I figured out how to get a Jumper off the ground for the first time. Or when I threw Rodney off the balcony.

"I would love to see the ocean," he said. "My predecessor spoke fondly of it – she traveled there many times when the city was young."

I lowered my eyebrows. "I didn't think cats liked water." It popped out before I could think, but it didn't seem to faze him. Instead he gave me such an unabashedly happy grin he actually showed teeth.

"I love the water," he said. He indicated the fountain with a tilt of his head. "I wish that were deeper."

I blinked as a line from some movie I saw years ago suddenly went through my head: When asked what he was doing naked in the fountain in Central Park at three a.m., Mr. Swan replied, "The back stroke". What the hell was that from? I just about had the name when a sound came from the night that made the lizard part of my brain want to piss itself and run away. I was on my feet in a heartbeat and gazing out into the darkness, my nine-mil in my hand and safety off. Now I've heard cougars scream before, but this was so much more … more primal it made me break out in a sweat and my head begin to pound with an adrenaline rush from hell. I could hear some noises from the village as sleepers woke and a few children cried, but they were quiet soon enough.

I glanced sideways and was not entirely surprised to see Shadow was standing and had shifted into that half-cat, half-human form. He had lost some height since his legs now bent at distorted angles, but he seemed to have gained mass in his chest and shoulders. His ears were facing forward and he had his mouth open, tongue barely showing and slightly curled, and he was sucking in breaths in quick pants like he was tasting the air. I also noticed a ridge of fur was raised the entire length of his spine.

"What the fuck was that?" I whispered and squinted into the darkness.

Shadow closed his mouth just long enough to swallow before he said, "Urtal." Then he stepped out into the rain. I started to follow but he turned and held up a paw, er, hand and faced me. But what freaked me out more was that I could still see my some of my features in that feline face. "Can you see in the dark?" he asked.

"No."

"Then stay here – I will investigate." Before I could reply he turned and started down the stairs, which stayed dark. The only thing I could see of him after a few steps was the glint of gold from his belt and the pale loincloth. Then he was completely swallowed by darkness.

I only waited ten seconds, maybe less, before I turned around and ran for the lift. Like hell I was just going to just stand around and do nothing while he risked the chance of getting gutted by one of those fucking cats. I didn't bring my P90 with me – it and my vest were still upstairs in my room. I only brought my sidearm with me when I came down.

Problem was, I was pretty buzzed when picked a room at random along a hall of doorways that all looked exactly alike when I turned in last night. And I didn't pay too much attention when I got up earlier. Crap. Did I go ten or twelve doors down? Or more?

Once I was back up on the third level I took a chance on the tenth door and thought it open. It worked and I was treated to the sight of Zelenka's bare ass. He was snoring away in drunken, happy bliss so I quickly closed the door. The next door was locked and I backed away, but I heard the Ancient equivalent of doorbell chime from the other side. I silenced it as quickly as I could, but a few seconds later the door slid open and I found Morales poking his head around the edge and blinking at me in surprise. He snapped to attention and tried to look as soldierly as he could in his tighty whities. "Sir!" he said and saluted.

"At ease, Lieutenant," I said and tried really hard to keep my expression neutral. He immediately stood at parade rest and I damn near lost it. "Go back to bed," I said and cleared my throat because it came out a bit strangled.

"Is something the matter, sir?" he asked. "Should I wake the Major?"

"No, that isn't necessary," I said as I waved him to go back into his room. Then I had a thought. "Do you have any night vision goggles with you?"

"No, sir, but there are some in the Jumper." He was starting to grow a little concerned. "The Major is in the next room, I can …."

"It's fine, Lieutenant," I said and tried to get that growly quality in my voice like Shadow had. I didn't quite get it, but it had a wonderful effect – Morales's eyes got wide and he backed up a step. Cool. I shrugged like it was nothing and said, "Nothing to worry about – I can't sleep so I thought I'd go check on the Jumper, maybe take a walk around the village, check out the wall." Crap, that was lame. "Go back to sleep, Morales. That's an order," I said as I backed down the hall. I skipped the next room and found the rest of my gear in the fourteenth room. Jeez, I was two-thirds the way around the damn building. I put on my vest, snapped the P90 in place, and jogged the short way to the lift.

The stairs to the Temple lit up as I went down them and I didn't have to turn the flashlight on the P90 on until I actually got past the flagstones and hit ground. I was glad the path to the village gate was pretty clear so I made good time, and when I got there I found Kintu and a couple other hunters guarding the closed door. I was impressed by the wooden double door – it would have fit perfectly on a medieval castle. Had to be Shadow's idea. The little guys all stared at me as I jogged up. "Is Shadow out there?" I asked. They all gave me blank looks so I pointed at the gate and said, "Nixta?" Kintu nodded. I tapped my chest and pointed at the door. Kintu shook his head and made go back motions. I lit my face with the flashlight, put on my best snarl, and did the same thing again as I took a step forward. That did it – Kintu glanced back and forth between me and the others before he reluctantly opened the gate wide enough for me to slip through.

I was glad the Jumper was only about thirty feet from the gate because, holy shit was it dark. The light from the interior was blinding once the hatch was lowered. I messily combed through two compartments before I found the night vision goggles. Then I went to the cockpit to retrieve a life signs detector and activate the Jumper's own sensors. The heads-up display came up and I swallowed. "You have got to be fucking kidding," I muttered and wiped rain from my face.

Do you know just how many things there are out moving around in a jungle at night? A shitload, that's how many.

I narrowed the parameters of the scan with a thought to things the size of a human or bigger. That narrowed down the possibilities considerably, and I could tell where Kintu and his boys were. There was something roughly a hundred yards from the Jumper and moving fairly slowly along what had to be the wall. I was taking the chance that was Shadow and killed the display. I stood at the rear hatch, and before I slid the goggles completely down I killed all the interior lights and gave my eyes a moment to adjust. Then I put them in place, and with the P90 cradled against my forearm and the life signs detector in my free hand I headed out.

I stayed within a dozen feet of the wall as I made my way through the low growth. A swath of ground cover had been cleared for maybe thirty yards from the base of the wall for planting and made it relatively easy to maneuver, but the rain was making all sounds blend together. I would stop every so often to check the detector, and after ten very long minutes I found I was getting closer to the one life sign. But I was also picking up another one that was out deeper in the thicker jungle growth.

And it seemed to be pacing me.

Twenty minutes later the rain was starting to let up and I was beginning to think that this was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Whatever was in the jungle was still there, and the other sign I thought may have been Shadow was out of range. Twice I had tripped on vines and gone to my knees so not only was I soaked to the skin I was also carrying about ten extra pounds of mud from the knees down. I was now roughly a third of the way around the village, however, and there was no way in hell I was about to call it quits.

I was halfway around the village when that nightmare scream echoed through the darkness again. The rain was still distorting sound and I wasn't exactly sure which direction it came from or how far away it was. All I knew was that whatever had been pacing me in the jungle began moving, and fast. "Okay, this was probably a very bad idea," I said quietly as I backed closer to the wall. I trained my P90 on the spot of thicker jungle growth where I figured whatever it was would come through, but the damn thing froze just within the boundary of the deeper jungle. I spent a very tense minute wondering if it was Shadow, the urtal, or one of those damn Jubjubs before it moved again. What stepped out of the jungle was on two legs, had eyes flashing like beacons in the view from my goggles, and was steadily walking right towards me.

I could see the laid back ears before I heard the low growl, and I didn't need to be a genius like Rodney to figure out Shadow was really pissed at me. I turned my weapon away from him but kept the detector within sight. Shadow stopped a few feet away and glared up at me – he stood slightly hunched, his arms bent slightly at his sides and hands flexing. "I told you to stay at the Temple," he said. One side of his mouth rose with the words and flashed a lot of fang.

"And if I had ordered you to do the same thing, would you have obeyed?" I said through my teeth. My tone made up for my lack of pointy teeth. Then I tapped my goggles. "Besides, I can see in the dark now."

Shadow's mouth snapped shut and I could see the skin on his nose wrinkle in a barely contained snarl. Then he took in a deep breath and let it out in the mother of all chuffs. "It's in the blood," he said grumpily and I saw his face relax. But not his ears – they remained plastered flat against his skull. He had drawn in his lips in an all too familiar grimace, however, and it looked very threatening as opposed to mildly annoyed when I did the same thing. He nodded toward my life signs detector. "What is that device?"

I glanced down at the display automatically and could see the two blips that defined us, and a third blip maybe a hundred feet away and slowly creeping closer. "Something that shows us we have company," I whispered and resettled my P90 on my forearm. Shadow glanced briefly at the display, then at me, and with a nod from him we set out side by side.

The kid moved so silently the only way I knew he was next to me half the time was from the smell of wet fur that wafted my way every once in awhile. I felt like a stampeding herd of lame elephants next to him, but the rain was disguising most of the noise I made. The other blip stayed just far enough away from us that I was pretty sure it knew we were there. We started moving closer to the thicker jungle growth and Shadow moved a few paces ahead of me. I could see his head swivel occasionally and knew he was searching for a scent. Pretty soon even I caught the unmistakable smell of eau de tom cat and Shadow actually picked up the pace.

We had closed the distance between us and the other blip to maybe fifty feet before it came to a halt. We both froze in place also, and I saw a brief flash of eyes in the brush up ahead. I stepped up next to Shadow and showed him the scanner. He nodded and leaned in a little closer. "It may charge us," he said in a whisper and I felt whiskers briefly tickle my cheek. Then he motioned me to move to the side.

I had a sudden flashback to that day by the Great Pyramid. Nixta did the same thing to Kintu, and the hunter had edged his bird sideways so he could have a clear shot as she advanced. I started to carefully move to my right, and as I did so I glanced briefly at Shadow. He was carefully removing his belt and loincloth, no doubt getting ready to shift into the full panther form. I started to move faster, my eyes on the brush and not the scanner, and it made me rather concerned that I could see the twin reflections of the urtal's eyes following me.

Oh crap. I turned my laser sight on and fixed it right between them.

Then Shadow let out a challenge roar that sent all of my soggy hairs standing straight up and made the eyes turn away from me. I didn't waste any time and opened fire just as the urtal moved. The muzzle flash from the short burst blinded my vision through the goggles and I heard the cat scream. Then I could hear and feel Shadow rushing through the undergrowth. The urtal was still making horrible sounds, and by the time my sight had returned it was silent. I cautiously approached the area and found Shadow in full panther form crouched over the urtal. I raised my goggles and turned on the flashlight attached to the P90. The bullets had stitched a line along its neck and shoulder and side, but I could see its throat had been torn out and that that had been the killing blow. Shadow squinted at me, and in one fluid movement went from panther to half form. He was still crouched down, but now his forearms were resting on his knees. And he was smiling. It was a lot like a dog smile – it showed lots of red stained teeth – but his eyes crinkled up and made it a lot less, well, scary.

"The pelt is in good condition – it is yours if you wish," he said.

"Let me think about that," I said. I ran a hand down my face and let out an airy laugh. Seeing it up close was making me realize just how fucking stupid I was for coming out here, but I wasn't going to admit that to anybody. "Holy shit, that thing's huge." I think it was bigger than the one that killed Nixta, and I had a sudden urge to fire a few more bullets in it for her.

Shadow pried open the cat's mouth and inspected its very big saber teeth. "It's a young male, maybe three years old. Probably trying to establish its own territory." He let go of the urtal's head and stood up. I had just a quick enough glance to see that in that half form, some parts were still recognizably human. I turned the flashlight off and raised my goggles to save me from seeing any more details. I took me a moment to realize there was enough murky light now that I could see outlines but no details, and that was just fine by me at the moment.

Shadow growled and I saw teeth flash. "This is my territory," he said. He turned around, faced the jungle, then leaned back and roared. The volume was incredible, and I swear it made my guts vibrate. Then he stomped towards the section of brush the urtal had come from and from the way he stood it was obvious he was remarking his territory.

I blinked a few times then had to turn around and clamp my lips together, and for just a brief second I almost considered joining him. But I stood with my back to him and just kept an eye on my scanner until he finished. I turned back when he rejoined me and saw he had retrieved his belt and loincloth. He gestured towards me. "May I use your knife?" he asked. I handed it to him and he started cutting lengths of ground vines to braid together for a short rope. It didn't take us long to get two decent lengths together, and I was glad for the rain when we started dragging the urtal back to the gate – the mud and wet foliage made the several hundred pounds of dead weight slide easier. And the murky pre-dawn light certainly made my navigation easier since I didn't have to rely on those awkward goggles.

I was still pretty damn tired by the time we got to the village gate, and it didn't surprise me at all to see Major Lorne and the two Marines in the Jumper. I had a feeling they were just getting ready to go look for me, and the surprised looks on their faces were priceless. I clearly saw Lorne mouth what the fuck? Shadow had switched back to human form when we started our drag, and we were both dripping wet and splattered with mud. The rain had also washed the blood off of Shadow's face and chest during our trek as well, and I was glad – it was a little freaky knowing he ripped the thing's throat out with his teeth. We stopped right in front of the Jumper and took a breather. Well, I took a breather – the kid was hardly winded. Lorne and his men boiled out of the back of the Jumper and before they could say anything I spoke first. "Lieutenant, thanks for the concern, but I told you everything was fine," I said and frowned. Morales took a sudden interest in his boots. I turned my frown towards Lorne. "Major, going somewhere?"

"Uh, um, no, sir," he said. "We heard, uh, noises." He turned on his flashlight, shined it on the dead urtal, and drew back a step. "Um, are you sure everything is all right, sir?"

Well, now that was a loaded question considering the events of the last fourteen hours. I glanced at Shadow and suddenly realized that it just wasn't freaking me out any more. It was still surreal, especially since he was looking at me calmly at the moment, and I'd wager I had the same expression on my face. I turned my attention back to Lorne. "It is now," I said as a big grin lit my face. Shadow chuffed and smiled smugly. Then before the Major could recover we glanced at each other and started dragging the urtal toward the gate. Once inside the wall we unwrapped the vines from around our shoulders, and Kintu and his boys took over. Shadow spoke briefly with them before we dragged our soggy asses back to the Temple, and by now it was light enough we could see the path under the trees and through the village. Lorne, Ferguson, and Morales kept a respectful distance behind us.